Skolithos

Skolithos is a common trace fossil ichnogenus that is, or was originally, an approximately vertical cylindrical burrow with a distinct lining. It was produced globally by a variety of organisms, mostly in shallow marine environments, and appears as linear features in sedimentary rocks.

A picture published with the record for Skolithos. What it shows has not been checked.

Wilson44691 · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
IchnofossilsPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 538 million years on record.

The record covers at least 538.8 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 635 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Cambrian — about 23 of 103 occurrencesOrdovician — about 11 of 103 occurrencesSilurian — about 3 of 103 occurrencesDevonian — about 3 of 103 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 103 occurrencesPermian — about 5 of 103 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 1 of 103 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 2 of 103 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 5 of 103 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 3 of 103 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 4 of 103 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 16 of 103 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 7 of 103 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 8 of 103 occurrencesPaleocene — about 1 of 103 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 103 occurrencesOligocene — about 0 of 103 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 103 occurrencesPliocene — about 3 of 103 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 103 occurrences648–626 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences626–605 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences605–583 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences583–561 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences561–540 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences540–518 Mya — about 8 occurrences518–497 Mya — about 14 occurrences497–475 Mya — about 8 occurrences475–453 Mya — about 4 occurrences453–432 Mya — about 3 occurrences432–410 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences410–389 Mya — about 3 occurrences389–367 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences281–259 Mya — about 4 occurrences259–237 Mya — about 4 occurrences237–216 Mya — about 3 occurrences216–194 Mya — about 4 occurrences194–173 Mya — about 1 occurrence173–151 Mya — about 4 occurrences151–130 Mya — about 16 occurrences130–108 Mya — about 5 occurrences108–86 Mya — about 2 occurrences86–65 Mya — about 8 occurrences65–43 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences43–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences538.8 Mya129 ka648 Mya0 Mya

103 occurrences of Skolithos on record, most of them in the Cambrian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

103 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

60 formations

Kap Leslie — 70.48°N, 21.97°WPoleta — 37.31°N, 118.11°WSanta Maria — 29.64°S, 53.45°WAdamantina — 22.34°S, 49.95°WAdamantina — 21.17°S, 48.50°WAdamantina — 20.28°S, 50.25°WPedroche — 37.95°N, 4.77°WGlen Rose Limestone — 32.25°N, 97.82°WGlen Rose Limestone — 32.25°N, 97.81°WBeach — 47.63°N, 52.92°WHarkless — 37.09°N, 118.11°WHarkless — 37.29°N, 118.13°WCariy Sandstone — 25.00°S, 58.00°WSundance — 44.53°N, 107.83°WTaime — 4.32°S, 81.25°WHardeberga — 55.00°N, 15.07°EGrebes Nest Point — 47.64°N, 52.98°WTichet, Ménaka, Teberemt — 19.62°N, 0.20°ETichet, Ménaka, Teberemt — 19.90°N, 0.42°ELaval — 45.58°N, 74.00°WDabis — 22.00°S, 17.00°EStappogiedde — 70.90°N, 28.67°EPuerto Blanco — 30.42°N, 111.93°WProveedora Quartzite — 30.42°N, 111.93°WTal — 30.45°N, 78.08°EGustalapiedra — 42.97°N, 0.87°WMurray Creek — 42.12°S, 171.85°EJordan Sandstone — 44.25°N, 91.50°WDuntulm — 57.62°N, 6.20°W

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The named rock units Skolithos has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 36 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Skolithos and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Skolithos and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

509 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 93 sites for Skolithos, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

59 references

Each of the 103 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 47 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Skolithos

Credit
Wilson44691
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itIchnofossils through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Haldemann 1840